A World of Difference

What if the fastest way through AI transformation is actually to slow down? On this sixth anniversary episode, Lori Adams-Brown unpacks the hidden cost of speed-first AI adoption, and why the leaders who listen before they build are the ones whose people actually stay.

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Six years ago I started this podcast because I believed the world needed more curious, human-centered leaders. Today, on our sixth anniversary, I am bringing you one of the most important solo episodes I have ever recorded.

The AI race is real. The pressure is real. And the cost most organizations are not measuring is also real.

In this episode I introduce the Speed Tax: the cumulative cost an organization pays, in trust, adoption, performance, and retention, when it deploys AI at speed without the culture architecture to support it. I share the story of a small nocturnal animal in the forests of Sumatra, the data from a landmark Harvard Business Review study, a proof point from a Fortune 100 AI hardware company, and a framework that HR and people strategy leaders can use starting Monday.

If you lead people through change, this one is for you.

Topic bullets:

Timestamps:

LINKS AND RESOURCES

The Speed Tax Diagnostic (free)

The Slow Down to Win Workshop

Research cited in this episode:

Read the full Substack essay:loriadamsbrown.substack.com

Connect with Lori:

Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode.

Visit https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com for more resources, and join us on Patreon for an exclusive bonus episode for this special 6th anniversary episode where Lori reflects on the 6 years and why coming together to listen and make a difference still matters.

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Picture two fish swimming in a bowl. One asks the other, how's the water? The second fish replies, what's water? That's culture, says Maria Angela Calmet, and it's exactly why so many leaders never notice the assumptions shaping how their teams communicate, decide, and trust one another.

In this episode

About Maria Angela Calmet

Maria Angela Calmet is the founder of Allopoli, where she helps global teams build cultural competence and identify unconscious bias to reduce conflict and maximize performance. Having lived across Peru, the Netherlands, and the United States, she is also the author of Lideresa, a leadership framework for women across Latin America.

Timestamps

Time

Topic

00:00

Welcome, and the cultures that formed Maria

03:37

What led her to create Allopoli

05:03

Why she wrote Lideresa, and what she shares about her own mistakes

08:55

The two fish and the water metaphor

09:26

Why cultural competence is a top future-of-work skill

09:33

The tree analogy: roots, not leaves

12:55

Egalitarian vs. hierarchical decision-making across cultures

14:04

The moment in Egypt that changed how she thinks about trust

19:15

Four key leadership competencies beyond cultural dimensions

24:25

Unique dynamics facing women leaders in Latin America

32:17

A moment in the Netherlands that reframed directness as kindness

36:23

Closing thoughts: the roots, not just the leaves

Find Maria Angela Calmet at

Website: https://www.allopoli.com  |  Book: Lideresa, available on Amazon worldwide

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Every leader I talk to on this show is navigating change of some kind. If you want to know where your own alignment gaps are, take the VOICE Framework assessment at https://www.bravaglobaladvisory.com/voice.

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What if the traits that get someone labeled difficult in one workplace are exactly what makes them extraordinary in another? Tara May, CEO of Aspiritech, a technology company where more than 90 percent of the team is autistic, joins us to talk about what she calls the ROI of kindness, and why building for neurodivergent talent makes every workplace better.

In this episode

About Tara May

Tara May is the CEO of Aspiritech, a Chicago-area technology services company where more than 90 percent of the workforce is autistic, serving clients including JPMorgan Chase, Bose, and Goldman Sachs. A former digital media executive turned neurodiversity advocate, she also leads NeuroGrowth, an educational consultancy helping other organizations build neuro-inclusive workplace cultures.

Timestamps

00:00

Welcome, and why Aspiritech's mission is personal for Tara

01:24

Two reasons Tara does this work: her son and her career in digital transformation

03:05

Tara's own diagnosis, and why having needs is not a weakness

08:03

Why “we're human, not superhuman” matters in Silicon Valley

10:03

Support success factors, and the water bottle story

11:46

A simple workspace fix that removed daily anxiety for one team member

12:52

Why neurodivergent talent is so often overlooked

13:20

The “spiky cognitive profile” reframe

17:03

The index card exercise that gave quiet voices a seat at the table

20:44

Universal design, and the canary in the coal mine concept

25:27

Where to start if you want a more neuro-inclusive workplace

27:58

Psychological safety as the foundation of innovation

30:00

Why middle manager training matters so much

35:11

What success looks like at Aspiritech

36:21

A story of a neurodivergent-led app test for children

38:54

One action to take this week

Find Tara May at

Website: https://aspiritech.org  |  LinkedIn: Tara May

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Karen Tay built a peer-support program for women navigating workplace bullying and burnout, ran it through Princeton research, and found something a lot of managers don't expect: the problem usually isn't a lack of effort. It's a lack of support.

In this Leading Through Change encore, Karen and Lori unpack what Karen's Princeton-backed research found about workplace adversity, why women in the senior-manager to senior-director range are most likely to drop out of the workforce, and what actually helps.

Karen Tay spent the first six years of her career serving the Singapore government before moving into tech, startups, and consulting in Silicon Valley. She is now CEO of Threshold Allies and founder of Inherent, helping women navigate critical moments in their careers.

Website: inherentjourney.org  |  Email: [email protected]  |  Instagram: @ktay.coaching  |  LinkedIn: Karen Tay 

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AI is changing every part of how leaders communicate, and Allison Shapira has a warning worth hearing: don't outsource your voice to it. In this conversation, we get into her framework for using AI to amplify authentic leadership instead of replacing it, and why she insists the human isn't just in the loop, the human is the loop.

In this episode

About Allison Shapira

Allison Shapira is the founder and CEO of Global Public Speaking and an adjunct lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School, where she has taught since 2015. A trained opera singer turned executive communication advisor, she is the Washington Post bestselling author of Speak with Impact and, most recently, AI for the Authentic Leader: How to Communicate More Effectively Without Losing Your Humanity.

Timestamps

Time

Topic

00:00

Welcome, and how travel helped Allison find her authentic voice

02:05

Why AI makes knowing your values more important than ever

03:34

Why she wrote AI for the Authentic Leader

05:19

The reframe: the human is the loop, not just in it

07:53

Individual alignment vs. AI alignment

09:37

Why cognitive diversity on boards matters as AI rolls out

11:34

Why leadership can't be left to AI experts alone

13:11

Why public speaking is never just about public speaking

15:56

The one question: “why you?”

18:57

A surprising detail about a famous communication study

20:19

The most common fear leaders have about using AI

24:30

The AI Authenticity Loop in practice

26:50

A concerning trend in how AI voice assistants are trained

29:25

How to use AI without sounding like everyone else on LinkedIn

33:24

New skills and mindsets leaders need for the AI era

39:59

Where to find Allison, and her closing thoughts

Find Allison Shapira at

Website  |  LinkedIn

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One week ago, twin earthquakes tore through the Venezuelan coastline Lori Adams-Brown grew up on. In this solo episode, recorded live and shared here as this week's show, Lori reports what's actually happening on the ground, draws on her firsthand experience coordinating relief after the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, and gives you a vetted list of where to send help right now.

The scale of the disaster: two quakes thirty-nine seconds apart, the strongest Venezuela has felt in over a century, and a death toll still rising

What Lori learned coordinating UN OCHA relief efforts after the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, and how that experience is shaping what she's watching for in Venezuela now

The political obstacles slowing rescue efforts, including documented interference with aid access

Why children are especially vulnerable after a disaster like this, and what trauma-informed care actually looks like

A vetted list of organizations working on the ground right now, and what to check before you give

What it means that some of the hardest-hit families had just been deported back into the disaster zone

This is a solo episode. Lori spent five years in Indonesia coordinating infrastructure and relief projects through UN OCHA after the 2004 tsunami, and is drawing directly on that experience here.

00:00 — Why Lori is recording this today

01:30 — What happened: twin earthquakes, June 24

03:30 — Scale of the damage and the rising death toll

07:55 — The epicenter, decades of substandard construction, and a 1999 disaster that echoes this one

13:00 — Documented interference with rescue access

17:00 — Lessons from the 2004 Indonesian tsunami response

24:00 — Children, trauma, and why “resilience” can be misread

27:15 — Vetted organizations on the ground right now

33:00 — The Darién Gap, asylum, and families caught between two crises

38:15 — How to help if you can't give: attention as aid

40:00 — Listener Q&A: large NGOs vs. local organizations

46:10 — A closing note on ICE deportations into the disaster zone

49:58 — Closing thoughts

Website: https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com  |  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loriadamsbrown  |  Substack: https://loriadamsbrown.substack.com  |  Instagram linktree (vetted donation list): see Instagram bio

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Staying isn’t always strength, and walking away isn’t always failure. Sally J. Clarke, co-author of Walk Away: Step Out to Step Up, joins Lori Adams-Brown to unpack why high-performing leaders so often wait for a crisis before giving themselves permission to leave.

Why a role can look right on paper, title, compensation, trajectory, while quietly stopping to fit, and how to tell a structural misalignment from a personal failure

The story behind the research: 40+ interviews with women across finance, technology, and the arts, including a founder underestimated in the boardroom who went on to build her own global company culture

Why walking away is rarely emotional and almost always strategic, and what that reframe offers women taught that leaving means failing

How culture, from Singapore to Germany to the United States, shapes whether leaving feels like a free choice or a forced one

What recent comments from prominent tech leaders reveal about shifting corporate culture, and one question every leader can ask themselves this week

Sally J. Clarke is an award-winning author and global business leader based in Singapore. She spent over a decade leading global marketing and communications at FIS and Markit, has advised organisations including Mitsubishi, Accenture, and the Singapore Stock Exchange, and is the co-author of Walk Away: Step Out to Step Up and author of the bestselling novel Ringside Gamble, winner of the 2025 Ink Prize for Best Debut Novel.

00:00 — Welcome and introduction to Sally J. Clarke

00:38 — The origin story: questioning whether “staying the course” is always right

02:01 — Why Walk Away exists: the conversation in Singapore that started it

03:35 — Beyond Lean In: how the conversation around women and ambition has shifted

04:35 — When a role looks right on paper but has stopped fitting

06:52 — Dr. Meena Kaushik: underestimated in the boardroom, she built her own company culture

09:12 — Embracing fear and the “learning and earning” mindset

11:44 — Permission, structural misalignment, and the personal-failure trap

12:37 — Alice Chen: a near-death wake-up call and leading with empathy

15:29 — Maternity leave, human limits, and humane leadership

17:15 — The scorecard method and a mentor’s advice on vision

19:16 — Why career growth isn’t a straight line

21:34 — How culture shapes the choice to leave

23:26 — The zebra and the lion: knowing who you’re trying to be

24:51 — Integrity as the cross-cultural constant

25:55 — Recent comments from tech leaders and the “choiceless choice” some women face

32:54 — One question to ask yourself this week

34:56 — The artist’s check-in: knowing what you want to say to the world

36:43 — Where to find Sally and her book

Join us for an exclusive bonus with Sally on Patreon

Website: https://sjclarkeauthor.com

LinkedIn

Book: Walk Away: Step Out to Step Up

Novel: Ringside Gamble

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What if the most sophisticated leadership framework you've ever encountered was grown in a vineyard?

In this episode, Lori sits down with her longtime friend Susie Lipps, founder of Conversations in the Vineyard, for a conversation that is equal parts practical wisdom and personal depth. Susie spent decades leading in international organizations before settling in Sonoma County, California, where the rhythms of the vineyard became her lens for rethinking what it means to flourish. The result is a framework as grounded as it is timely.

In this episode, you will hear:

Why sustainable flourishing requires going 30 feet deep, not just wide

How the seasonal rhythms of a vineyard map onto leadership lifecycles

What third culture kids understand about rootedness that others often miss

The difference between being productive and being fruitful

How to lead purpose-driven teams through transformational offsights and retreats

Susie Lipps grew up between worlds, spending her childhood in a mud hut in Honduras and a boarding school in Guatemala City. That TCK experience of never fully belonging anywhere became the foundation for a life's work centered on meaning, rootedness, and human flourishing. She is the creator and facilitator of Conversations in the Vineyard, where she hosts transformational offsights for purpose-focused teams.

TIMESTAMPS

[00:00] Introduction and Welcome

[02:30] Susie's origin story: from Honduras to Sonoma

[06:00] What the vineyard teaches about deep roots

[12:00] Sustainable flourishing vs. high performance

[18:00] Seasons in leadership: dormancy, pruning, harvest

[24:00] Leading purpose-driven teams through change

[30:00] TCK identity and the search for home

[36:00] How to find Susie and work with her

Check out our exclusive bonus episode with Susie on Patreon

Find Susie Lipps at: Conversations in the Vineyard

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What happens when an organization says all the right things about culture, puts the values on the wall, launches the initiative, and nothing actually moves? Carlee Wolfe has spent more than two decades inside that gap, and her answers will challenge how you lead.

Carlee Wolfe is Associate Vice President of Leader Development and Organizational Effectiveness at Hyatt Hotels, where her work sits at the intersection of global leadership, talent strategy, and culture. Her perspective is shaped not only by the boardroom but by two decades of coaching volleyball and volunteering with the Olympic and Paralympic movement, including adaptive sports.

In this episode, we explore:

Why the moments before and after a big transformation matter more than the launch itself, and how leaders ride the wave ahead of their teams

What organizations consistently get wrong about high performance, and why doing your job well makes you a great performer, not an underperformer

Why belonging does not mean comfort, and what happens when belonging becomes a brand promise with no actions, policies, or behaviors behind it

How community functions as real organizational capacity, from shared learning in the age of AI to carrying the weight together

Why burnout never wins for anyone, and how to lead for sustainable output instead of endless hours

Timestamps (estimates, confirm against final edit)

00:00 Cold open: when culture initiatives do not move culture

01:10 Welcome and what this show is about

01:52 Meet Carlee Wolfe

03:05 Carlee joins the conversation

03:55 The arc of transformation: leading the before and after of big moments

07:00 What organizations misunderstand about high performance

10:55 Doing your job well makes you a great performer

11:05 Silicon Valley, global work cultures, and the overwork trap

12:40 Output over hours: burnout, capacity, and decision quality

16:30 Belonging does not mean comfort

20:50 Trust is built when actions match the words on the wall

21:30 Community as capacity: carrying the weight together

24:55 The bar you can raise alone versus the bar you can raise with others

27:55 Where to find Carlee

28:25 Join the Difference Makers on Patreon

Connect with Carlee

Find Carlee Wolfe at: LinkedIn (search Carlee Wolfe) and https://www.aceandarrowconsulting.com

Connect with us

Subscribe, leave a review at https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com/reviews/new/, and share this episode.

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Join the Difference Makers community for the exclusive conversation with Carlee: patreon.com/aworldofdifference

Connect with Lori: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loriadamsbrown and https://loriadamsbrown.substack.com

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What if the silence in your meetings has nothing to do with confidence and everything to do with culture? Organizational psychologist Neelu Kaur joins Lori Adams-Brown to decode the invisible operating systems shaping how professionals communicate, advocate for themselves, and lead across cultures and organizational hierarchies.

IN THIS EPISODE:

  - What the "self-trust recession" is and why it matters for global leaders right now

  - The paradox at the heart of corporate America: individualistic society, yet over-indexed workplaces

  - Why "just speak up" is incomplete advice when power dynamics are involved

  - The Abilene Paradox: how teams end up agreeing to decisions nobody actually wants

  - The difference between assimilation and adaptability at work and why organizations are getting it wrong

ABOUT NEELU KAUR:

Neelu Kaur is a global keynote speaker, organizational psychologist, and author of Be Your Own Cheerleader: An Asian and South Asian Woman's Cultural, Psychological, and Spiritual Guide to Self-Promote at Work. She partners with Fortune 500 companies to build transformative leadership cultures, holds a Master's in Social and Organizational Psychology from Columbia University, and is a certified NLP master practitioner.

TIMESTAMPS:

  00:00 - Introduction and Neelu's cross-cultural background (India to the US)

  04:00 - The self-trust recession: outsourcing inner authority in the age of AI

  08:00 - The I vs. We paradox in corporate America

  12:00 - Assimilation vs. adaptability in hiring and onboarding

  18:00 - Psychological safety and cultural assessments in executive teams

  22:00 - Inclusion at work events: safety, restraint, and belonging

  26:00 - Speed culture vs. strategic depth: the cost of always being on autopilot

  36:00 - The Abilene Paradox and how groupthink silences the room

Join us for the exclusive bonus episode on Patreon with Neelu.

FIND NEELU KAUR AT:

  Website: https://www.neelukaur.com

  Book: Be Your Own Cheerleader (available where books are sold)

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